Thursday 12 July 2012

Doctor Zhivago

One of those Sunday afternoon sweeping epics that never seems to be off the TV schedule but before the List I'd never seen before (see also The Sound of Music, Gone With the Wind, The Ten Commandments), Doctor Zhivago was a bit of a disappointment.

For starters, it's well over 3 hours long, but very little of that mammoth runtime left any kind of impression. Other than some striking imagery - a splash of blood in freshly fallen snow, a burst of yellow sunflowers against a dull, beige hallway - and a few admittedly impressive set pieces, there's very little from this film that's been committed to my memory banks.


Given there's so much time to handle, the characters don't receive much characterisation. This is a real shame, particularly for Omar Sharif as the titular medical man, who gives an engaging a bright-eyes performance, but of a character I still know very little about. His Sharif is born into a wealthy family in Russia, a little before the Bolshevik Revolution, and the film tells of his many and varied troubles throughout his, and Russia's, history. On many occasions the history overshadows his life, as well it should, but the focus of the film is instead on him and his loves, for his childhood sweetheart Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin), whom he marries, is forcibly separated from Zhivago, forming a love triangle when he works closely with Julie Christie's Lara.

At times the film reminded me of - whisper it - Pearl Harbour, particularly when I was asked to try and forget about the major historical event taking place in the background of a scene, and instead focus on the trivialities of the relationships of the leads, but just like Michael Bay's explosion-fest, the grand scale of the set pieces was very impressive. Be it the hundreds of singing extras at a rally that becomes a battleground against an army of sword-wielding Cossacks, or the miles-long trudge Zhivago sets out on to return home through the snow, there is little shortage of spectacle.

Look out for Klaus Kinski on a train, and listen as your cries for more Alec Guinness - as Zhivago's brother Yevgraf - go unheard. Whilst the film is certainly at times impressive, especially for its time, today it doesn't really hold up, though it is certainly better than Pearl Harbour.

Choose life 6/10

8 comments:

  1. Big fat ditto. I would pick several other of David Lean's movies over this one. Then again, epics bore the shit out of me.

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    1. I've only seen Lawrence of Arabia and Great Expectations from David Lean. I liked Expectations (but then I love Dickens) and I can't remember much about Lawrence, so I'm looking forward to seeing it again and hopefully being blown away.

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  2. I watched Dr. Zhivago as part of a challenge in April to watch 26 films from A to Z. I actually enjoyed it, although I was completely numb by the end of it.

    The film's success, apart from its loosely contrived love story is on the sweeping scenery. The ice palace is especially impressive. The ending was also beautifully simple. The film also helped me in a pub quiz while my friends were floundering - "What shape is a balalaika?"

    I do agree though, with so many characters who are all basically the same, its hard to get into.

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    1. I just lost interest after about an hour and a half I think, so much so that I can barely remember the ice palace you mentioned. I almost feel like I haven't seen the film!

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  3. I was somewhat let down by this movie, probably because I had heard so much good about it and because I felt Lawrence of Arabia was fantastic. I felt the ending text was just overkill on the depressing stuff. Also, my rational mind kept wondering how they were able to not freeze to death in the "ice palace".

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    1. I'm looking forward to watching Lawrence of Arabia, I've only ever half-watched it once before, so I need to do it justice this time. I'm very much hoping it's better than Zhivago!

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  4. I feel that after Laurence of Arabia, Lean felt the need to try and top that one, and he was an overblown, overdone bore ever since. Laurence of Arabia is his best work, followed shortly by Bridge on a River Kwai and the realitvely smaller Close Encounter.

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    1. Good to hear those three films are great, they're all on the list so I'll be getting to them eventually, hopefully soon. Thanks for reading.

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